Max Heindel, known as the greatest
western mystic of the twentieth century, was born on July 23, 1865, of the
royal family of Von Grasshoff, who were connected with the German Court during
the lifetime of Prince Bismarck.The
father of Max Heindel was Francois L. Von Grasshoff.He migrated when quite a young man to
Copenhagen, Denmark, where he married a Danish woman of noble birth.Three children blessed their union, two sons and
one daughter.The older of these sons
was Carl Louis Von Grasshoff, who later adopted the pen name ofMax Heindel.The father died when the elder son was six
years of age, leaving the mother with her three children in very straitened
circumstances.

The mother’s pride of family and
name forced her with her family of three children to live in genteel poverty so
that the small income would suffice.Self-denial
was carried to an extreme in order that they might take their place in society
as became the sons and daughters of nobility.

This life did not please the elder
son, who left home at the age of sixteen years and wounded his mother’s pride
by entering the shipyards at Glasgow, Scotland, where he learned the
engineering trade.He was chosen as
chief engineer of a trading steamer while yet very young.This took him into the Orient and his trips
all over the world in the capacity of engineer gave Max Heindel a great deal of
knowledge of the world and its people.For a number of years he was chief engineer on one of the large
passenger steamers of the Cunard Line plying between America and Europe.

Between the years 1895 and 1901, he
was consulting engineer in the city of New York.His first marriage was full of
disappointments and sorrow and ended by the death of his wife in 1905.

Max Heindel came to Los Angeles,
California, in 1903, where he acted as engineer for a time, but ill luck
overtook him.Hunger and privation were
his daily companions, but nevertheless he was not idle.With a dauntless spirit and a determination
to succeed along more advanced mental lines, he became interested in the study
of metaphysics and joined the Theosophical Society of Los Angeles, of which he
was vice president in 1904 and 1905.His
heart was ever longing for the knowledge of the deeper mysteries of life, as
his earlier years had been full of sorrow and had awakened his mind to search
for the explanation of life and being and had created in him a desire to
understand the sorrows, privations and sufferings of humanity.The thought which was ever uppermost in his
mind was to find some means by which he could help to lift the burdens of his
brothers and sisters in the world.The
light began to dawn when he contacted the teachings which had been given out by
Madame Blavatsky of the Theosophical Society.While connected with this society, he met the woman who was years later
to become his spiritual inspiration.She
it was who helped him to find his work, for Augusta Foss was also interested
along similar lines of research and she was instrumental in interesting Max
Heindel in the science of astrology.In
this science he found a field with many possibilities in that it is truly a
science of the soul.It gave him the key
by which he could unlock the mysteries of man’s inner nature, and by learning
to know and understand the weaknesses of character he could then help to guide
the people and help them to find their proper place in the world.

Overwork and privations brought on a
severe spell of heart trouble in 1905 and for months he lay at the point of death,
but upon recovery he was more keenly awake to the needs of humanity.He realized that it was not so much from the
need of physical food that mankind suffered, as it was because of soul hunger,
which led them to do the things that brought upon them suffering.He started out on a lecture tour which
eventually led him to Germany, where he contacted the Brothers of the Ancient
Order of Rosicrucians, and he spent some time in
study under the instructions of these wise ones, who then sent him out into the
world as their messenger, to preach the message of the Rosicrucians
and to heal the sick.

He returned to America in the spring
of 1909 where he at once started to formulate the Rosicrucian message which he
had received from the Elder Brothers.This was given to the world in the form of a book entitled:“The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception,”
and it was a masterpiece.It contains
one of the most comprehensive, simply written, and complete histories of the
evolution of the earth and man that has been written for centuries.A minister of one of the churches in the
northwestern part of America made the statement that he had two books in his
library which gave him his thoughts for his sermons; one was the Bible and the
other was Max Heindel’s “Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception”
which unlocked the mysteries of the Bible to him.This book is now translated into eight
different languages.

In November, 1909, after a
successful lecture tour, Max Heindel returned to Los Angeles, where he met with
much success lecturing and giving out lessons.

In August, 1910, he was joined in
marriage to Augusta Foss, the woman who had been instrumental in helping him to
find the truth and of whom a brief biography follows; with this added help and
inspiration his work made it necessary that a headquarters be established for
the purpose of disseminating the Rosicrucian work.For the first eight months these two pioneers
lived in a small three-room bungalow in Ocean Park, California, with little money,
but a determined spirit to start correspondence courses in the Rosicrucian
philosophy.

In the ten years that the lived to
start this great work for the Brothers of the Rose Cross, he gave as many
volumes to the world as are ordinarily given in a lifetime of an author.His brain-children are many, and the
following books, which this wonderful man left as legacy to the world, are now
printed at the Rosicrucian Headquarters, at Oceanside, California:“The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception;” The
Rosicrucian Mysteries;” “The Web of Destiny;” “Teachings of An Initiate;”
“Freemasonry and Catholicism;” “Letters to Students;” “The Rosicrucian
Philosophy in Questions and Answers;” “Gleanings of a Mystic;” “Mysteries of
the Great Operas;” “The Rosicrucian Principles of Child Training;” “How Shall
We Know Christ at His Coming;” “The Mystical Interpretation of Christmas;”
“Simplified Scientific Astrology;” and “The Message of The Stars,” the latter
in conjunction with Augusta Foss Heindel.

(From Volume LI,
Encyclopedia of American Biography, published in 1932.)